language lawyer
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.53 in modern English
22
Scrabble Score
14
Letters
2
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To behave in a lawyer-like way and discuss semantic differences pedantically. To lawyer over language.
Slang
Example Sentences
- "This website is full of way too many language lawyers who get in the way of all the meaningful discussions."
- "I need a language lawyer: is this UB?"
- "Let's not language lawyer the little details; a big-picture approach will be fine for this tutorial."
Etymology
Compound of language + lawyer. Defined in the Jargon File. The definition is often cited verbatim as: A language lawyer is distinguished by the ability to show you the five sentences scattered through a 200-plus-page manual that together imply the answer to your question “if only you had thought to look there”.
Usage
Inflected Forms
language lawyers (plural)
language lawyers (present, singular)
language lawyering (participle, present)
language lawyered (participle, past)
language lawyered (past)
language-lawyer (alternative)